Positive Spirituality

A CONSCIOUSNESS OF HEALING FOR OUR TIMES

By Rev. Dr. Arthur Chang

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

the Maker of heaven and earth.

Our objective reality of the corona virus will not destroy us. If there is to be a great destruction, it will come from the storm of anxiety and fear we will allow to run rampant in our inner life—our consciousness.

Modern people seem to show little regard for the value of spiritual life, perhaps because religious groups tend to be restrictive. Yet, today’s people readily take fragments of Spirituality, such as love and delight, with as little responsibility as they can. We are capable of having a single-minded focus on pleasure as is the case with drug addicts. Although pleasure is a perfectly normal aspect of our human experience, it does have a tendency to cause us to lose our sense of boundaries and the balance of our well-being. An old but poetic way of describing this syndrome is, “Selling our souls to the devil.” In the same way we can give our onus of control over to pleasure, we can do it with fear. Fear is not an enemy, as it is a necessary survival function, but can get out of control. The truth seems to be that any one of our feelings can be destructive  when we lose our balance.

Our current challenge is how to align our feelings of faith to strengthen our consciousness of healing. Faith is our healing consciousness, which often suggests that healing is to be instantaneous. It is almost never instantaneous, as it is processive. Is it any less faith when healing is processive?

                                                                                                          

Often, healing begins, not with faith,  but with peace and hope. Faith is a state of consciousness that must be acquired. The soil in which faith grows best is that of peace and hope. This we always have but must claim. First, we must calm down by breathing deeply and saying:

Right now, I breathe in peace.

Right now, I breathe out fear and anxiety.

Right now, I breathe in hope.

Right now, I breathe out hopelessness.

(Say this calmly while breathing in slowly. Repeat several times if your feelings are anxious or fearful, until those feelings dissipate and you feel a deep stillness. Then continue with the rest of the prayer below.)

I am calm, positive, optimistic,

And I am fully accepting of my healing.

Now as my mind is settled and still,

I affirm my faith in the One Power and Healing Presence.

As this Presence is calm, powerful and healing

Throughout the universe,

So is It in me and my loved ones, 

The perfect healing action.

This Power guides and protects me,

To hear and respond to right knowledge,

To ignore all thought and action contrary to my health.

I openly, with great faith, accept right results

And I am grateful for my well-being, now,

And so it is.                                

In the face of a crisis, everyone wants to have immediate results from her spoken word. After all, we may argue, that was what Moses, Elisha and Jesus experienced. Bible miracles are far more about the miracles within the mind, of consciousness, than they are about the objective world. By becoming literal about these stories, we will never see how to get through to the other side of any challenge. We must form a symbolic mental equivalent to that which we desire.  For example, Moses crossing the Red Sea and Elisha taking the small vial of oil and filling the large jars, turning a seeming lack of options into abundance for a better life for the whole community. We learn to see the symbolic meaning of Jesus telling the storm “Be still” and inviting Peter to walk on water. This is our invitation to walk on water.

Blessing:

May you know with great challenges come opportunities to call forth your greatness.

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